Imelda Staunton filmography and biography
Date of birth: 9 January 1956, London, England, UK
Imelda Staunton trivia
- An only child, she attended La Sainte Union Convent, a convent school in
the north of London.
- She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1986 (1985
season) for Best Performance in a Supporting a Role for "A Chorus of
Disapproval" and "The Corn is Green".
- She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1991 (1990
season) for Best Actress in a Musical for "Into the Woods".
- She was nominated for a 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for
Best Actress in a Musical of the 1996 season for her performance in
"Guys and Dolls".
- She was awarded the 1985 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama
Theatre Award) for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in A
Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green.
- Became an Associate Member of RADA.
- Graduated from RADA.
- She won the "Coppa Volpi" award for her performance in
Vera Drake at the 2004 Venice Film Festvial. The movie
"Vera Drake" also won the "Gold Lion" award for the best movie at the
same event.
- She said that her idols are Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, and
Maya Angelou.
- Daughter, Bessie Carter, born in 1993.
- Her talent agent is the mother of Freddie Highmore.
- One of 112 invitees to join AMPAS in 2005.
- She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire)
in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for her services to drama.
- Turned down a recurring role in Desperate Housewives.
- Offered a role in Bewitched.
- At 14, she played Polly Peachum in a school production of the musical
"The Beggar's Opera".
- Has a beautiful singing voice, heard in the film Peter's Friends (1992).
- Played an educational bureaucrat in two films in 2007:
Freedom Writers and
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
- Appears with her husband, Jim Carter (I) in _"Cranford" (2007)_.
Imelda Staunton quotes
- "I go up for a job, someone else gets it, what can I do about that? That
might be in another league to me, people being competitive. But it's
not like running a race. I'm not against anyone. I think that's a much
more American thing, that."
- "We're all unique as actors. To yourself, you are unique, you have to
think 'I'm me, I'm not going to bunch myself with other people.' Agents
and producers have to get you into a box, to accommodate their limited
imaginations."
- "He's the nicest ... because he works so hard, and I think he expects
other people to work hard. And in my book, that's enough. We don't roll
into rehearsal at 10.30 and have coffee. We start at 8am, we finish at
8 o'clock at night. I mean, you don't want to dither around him. And I
think that's fine. I think he's entitled to say what he wants and what
he doesn't want. He knows a lot about it. He doesn't have to be nice if
he doesn't want to, just to be charming." [On working with
Mike Leigh in Vera Drake]
- "Well, my parents were working people. You just worked. I've always
wanted a long career, not an instant one. I left Rada, I worked in rep
for six years, then I came to London and came to the National Theatre.
What's better than that? I don't know what's better than that. 'Oh, but
surely you wanted to be a big film star when you were 21?' No, because
I would've been rubbish. Because I spent a lot of time in rep being OK,
being very bad, and then being quite good. And I could practice my
craft. You know, being exposed that early, to be brilliant in your
first job, where do you go from there? It's given me time, which is a
luxury."
- "I'm not Susan Sarandon. I don't want to bang a drum. I think I'm
just going to say 'I'm pro-choice' and leave it at that." [On her view
about abortion, something she's been asked a lot after her role in
Vera Drake]
- I am a character actress, well, let's say, I am a leading character
actress who does interesting, odd parts.
- You know you can be very famous without being a great actress, and
that's not good for me.
- I reached the point now, where I have become as comfortable on a movie
set as I am on stage. Before, I was trying to figure it out, how much
should I emote, where should I stand? But now I know more about the
camera, and what goes into the mix, technically. I'm much more
comfortable doing film now.
- "It's obscene, isn't it? Just ridiculous. We don't need any of these
things! Give it to people who need it. I'll never have to buy
moisturizer again. I might start eating it soon." - what she thinks
about celebrities getting free gifts at award shows.
- All my heroes-Tim Spall, Lesley Manville-are just so brilliant. And I
thought, well, I'm not in that league.
- As Vera Drake, I feel Mike has used all of me as a dramatic actress, in
a positive sense.
- After the creation and the filming are over. As you well know, we don't
have a script when we're shooting. But after the film, the screenplay
gets published and you can read the whole thing
- Agents and producers have to get you into a box to accommodate their
limited imaginations.
- You don't have a script, so we prepared that film for six months and
then filmed it for three and a bit months. Nothing is improvised on
film but for me I created with Mike (Mike Leigh) that woman
literally from the day she was born, so I know everything about her
life. And of course we can't do it in every job because there is not
the time, because most films you literally get the script, you learn it
immediately and you turn up and you just do it. Which, with a lot of
the work I do, that's plenty of preparation. But for something like
that - and I'd never worked with him before - and it was a real
eye-opener. And to have that happen to me in a time when - I hope - was
the middle of my career, it was like going back to drama school and
starting all over again. (On Vera Drake)